Leading Across Boundaries: Creating Collaborative Agencies in a Networked World

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Developing the Leadership to Create Tomorrow’s Collaborative Cultures

At Cisco, we want a culture where it is unacceptable not to share what you know.

—Mike Mitchell, director of technology communications, Cisco Systems

 

Here’s a pop quiz: What organization do the following characteristics bring to mind?

• Control of resources equals power.

• Strong organizational units compete for resources and power.

• A top-down leadership style means a few senior executives make all important decisions.

• A cowboy culture rewards strong personalities who try to outdo each other for the leader’s attention.

• The focus is on individual units and functions, not on the needs of the entire enterprise.

Does this sound like an organization you’ve ...